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A long day and a lot of £££’s but at last we have our tarmac road (circa 300 sq m) and drive base (circa 130 sq m). A real transformation, looks a bit more like somewhere I can move into next week!

We have hot water. Only heated by the immersion heater just now, the heat pump plumbing will be later. And I have just had a shower in the new bathroom, I said I would get there before @Onoff Pictures to follow, no not of me showering but the tank plumbing.

Anyway @daiking your list is wrong. It goes like this. 1. Take a group of amazingly helpful and altruistic people on this forum who invest lots of time and effort advising people for no gain. 2. After lots of advice both on and off forum determine that the issues can’t be fixed through keyboard advice 3. 2 of those amazing people (plus a son) offer to travel an incredible distance to help address the issues. 4. After very long days things finally work for the first time ever. 5. Ensure that some fun and banter (and beer) is part of the experience. DIY SOS Buildhub style. I’ve said it a lot but I’ll say it again. This forum is amazing!

That looks fantastic! Daughter had the first bath. It's been agreed I'm having the first s**t!

You guys all need skylights - trust me . i think I’ve got some around here somewhere ....

That's because it has seven bathrooms

I once came across an article on the 'net that tried to establish how comfortable people feel when they step on a cold floor, with one variable being the material they stepped on. I cannot find it right now and do not recall the details, but the conclusions were along the lines of: if the floor is cold people tend to feel less comfortable even if the room is warm floor being cold is not just based on floor temperature but depends on the material e.g. stone floors feel colder than wooden floors at the same temperature We all know this instinctively / through experience, but it still surprises me how many people have hard tile or stone floors in their bathrooms which feel cold and echoey despite having heating. Much as I love stone floors, this is a no-no in my view, unless you live in a much warmer country or keep the floor warm through UFH. Based on this we went with "softer" surfaces upstairs where we have no UFH - i.e. Amtico and timber. Amtico has a slight give that also aids comfort and reduces noise. Our bathrooms only have a diect electrical heated towel rail for heating, and stepping on the Amtico feels comfortable. I tend to leave the towel-rail on 24x7 in winter at the lowest setting - perhaps about 50W on average.

So how much are they going to cost to re make ? would it be cheaper to alter the hole. Ive looked at it and I have a couple of ideas rattling around in my head to fix it.

That looks like good ground @Redoctober

Why not just tile where white goods are going and everywhere else up to plinth legs/feet

Just don’t ask them to deliver on a Saturday if you live more than 5 minutes from a UPS depot ..... or you get a long drive ..!

Wow, it's starting to look fabulous Lizzie! Hope you're getting excited now as I'm sure it will be an amazing house to live in xx

After laying that amount of tarmac on such a warm day the van home will have its Windows open the whole way. Looks really well.

I could go and cut a few holes in the roof over the weekend??

What a difference. I bet you can't wait to get in.

Don't bother with the blocks. Introducing an unnecessary cold bridge. Will you even see the gap below or are you having a service cavity or counter battens internally? You may not even have a gap after them. I'd do what Declan suggested and go with insulation offcuts, bit of foam and some mortar to hold them until the felt is on. I'd be sure to spend as little money and time on it as possible.

Lizzie I'm sure your build is amazing! It lacks something...... Walk on sky;ights I believe!!

I could just expanded foam sit them in the hole

You did cheer me up!. I just thought I was a twat! Sigh!. Wonder what the company will do - take them back and 'discount' the correct sized ones........ (hence charge me again) Funnily enough when I had the timber frame go up there was meant to be a vaulted ceiling. I had said so in an email so could prove it. When it went up; there wasn't - their argument was they didn't receive amended drawings i.e. ignoring the email stating it. Live and learn again! Guess these will end up in the 'for sale' section soon maybe....

Cutting steel we used to have "make ups", a deliberate overlength supplied long and to be cut on site. It would be marked as "MUP" on the drawings. Working with some lads from Wigan and they kept referring to what sounded to us like "them funnyfuts". Same as a make up it turned out, short for "funny f***er to cut". Then we contracted a load of painters from 'upt North". Let loose in London they were complete with knotted hankies on their heads. Their eyes were on stalks at all the attractive girls in the City and they kept remarking to there being "plenty 'o grumble down 'ere". Turned out it was rhyming slang!

I see lots of same-old modern houses in the UK, that basically look like busy versions of what the modernists started not that far off a century ago. I have very little emotional reaction to most "modern" houses built in this country. I say that as someone who's built a fairly low-key but very modern house. For comparison, Japanese architects (and their clients) seem much more willing to push the boundaries to deliver truly interesting buildings. That said, I do suspect that this is driven as much by planning laws as taste.

Have heard people speak of bicarbonate of soda as a solution,but I can’t vouch for its effectiveness & would urge caution & LOTS of research before applying anything. As has been said,it’s a pain but will go away in time.

Imagine how many years that took...

Last push today and the site will be cleared - Now that we have started, I shall update my blog over the weekend with some more photos.

Welding gauntlets from Toolstation are very effective. Shame they don't come in smaller sizes so I don't have to be the sole wearer!

I think there is certainly a risk of architecture for art/architectures sake where it would look great on the architects portfolio, but doesn't necessarily make it better to live in for the client... not cheap!

CPC is a well known component shop, part of the Farnell group. Most us us just use them mail order http://cpc.farnell.com/

I can confirm BuildHub SOS is alive and running. Not everything gets posted on the forum. I am eternally grateful for the support I am getting both on and off forum

Am I the only one taking notes in preparation of a future edition of buildhub-sos? Pub within stumbling distance - check 24hr supermarket for snacks - check within 40mins of CPC- check.... loads of beer - need to get that home brew on the go

I'm not holding my breath .

Bugger....he's chasing me for that pint

What about bitumen patch like Flashband.

@Nickfromwales So was my data of any use in helping you decide whether UFH is worth the bother in a PH?

Just shows how complex all the interactions become and there is no one solution as each piece of equipment has it's own specific requirements! My split requires a minimum volume of 50L and can cope with 260L before an additional expansion tank is required!

That is my experience when using CTs. Though I found, on average over the whole range things tend to sort themselves out. The only large inductive loads I have are the washing machine, vacuum cleaner and the bathroom fan. They are no used that much in the scheme of things.

Ive got a flat floor wet room, tiles and a linear drain that is tiled. Very sleek. This is on the mbc slab.

It was the second pint that did it.... then the 3rd, 4th and 5th didn’t help either..!

Kuhlmann (RWK) is a basic German kitchen. It will cost more thn Howdens and its a much better product. Not bad for the money. Look for Nobilia, Bauformat in the same sort of price range.

Absolutely. My wife will use a duvet all the way through summer. I'm too hot under one even in the middle of winter. It's the same for most couples I know. There's also an element of me being cheap (plus wanting to use less energy in principle), so I'm happy to put on warm clothing if it's cold, rather than just turning the heating up.

Install it on another device as it seems to recognise either IP or MAC addresses when you re-register.

Can you get another free trial loaded on another computer? Or see if you can open the file in another, properly free, CAD package. Or set the PC clock back a month, it used to work in the olden days when we were all honest.

With similar software agreements I have started a new trial period under a different name.

I had a quote from my local showroom. Quality far superior than Howdens. I didnt go with them in the end as they were limited on their design - they couldnt do what I wanted but that could have been just the particular designer.

It is horses for courses - @Mr Punter is correct (and very funny) just a load of chipboard boxes lashed to the wall, and in lashing they probably bugger up your air tightness. Anyway the clear fact is, as he also hints, that its about the doors (painted MDF, book matched obscure veneers or solid gold), the worktop (Melamine, Quartz, Wood, Corrian or whatever), the appliances (double dishwashers, double ovens, Range cookers, AGA, Fridge, Freezer, coffee maker(s) and built in juicer - don't forget to the get brand right, if you cannot afford Gaggeanu - and if you have to ask the price you can't afford it, we won't think the worse of you) and above all the 'usability' of it all so you can entertain your friends while simultaneously producing a gourmet meal that would, had you bothered to enter, have put you at the top of the Master Chef league. All you need to remember is that when you are buying a kitchen you are buying a workplace that has to double as a badge of wealth while exuding your interpretation of effortless style and you had better hope your friends agree otherwise social death, or worse, them sniggering to each other as the leave - 'did you see that kitchen I bet it came straight from ....'! Curiously the super rich don't bother with kitchens because they never go there - only the hired hands do that, and for them IKEA is good enough!

Try us islanders, the delver man sends parcels over only on Saturdays......

What goes on tour...

Which cupboard .........?? We went in lots of cupboards..!!! And each has a story to tell ...